Competitive pay.Overtime was optional rather than mandatory.Free catered lunches at least once a month, sometimes more.Management team tries to create a fun work environment with various events and activities, on and off the clock.

Cons

Fairly high turnover rate.High volume of work leaves little time for cross training on new machines. You may get stuck in a single function for a very long time.Computer network frequently had issues that would interrupt workflow.

Advice to Management

Prioritize the cross training of employees on different machines. The training phase may temporarily hurt production, but the results of having the staff fully trained on multiple machines should help in the long run.

The Home Depot was my place of employment for about 5 years. Over 2 years at one location, left them to seek employment elsewhere only to return to them at the Baytown location in Texas. Store 6507. It was a warm welcome back to a company I have enjoyed working for before. I had their culture and work ethic engraved into my being from day one. I did everything in my power to do what is best for the customer. I still practice that to this day. I grew up under the Home Depot and it helped shape me into the man I am now. I had a fair pay, fantastic benefits, an understanding manager, a wonderful open-door policy, and great people to work with coming from a variety of different cultures and backgrounds.

-Benefits outweigh pay so don't expect to make a lot work there unless you have been there for a long time.-Depending on your store, people are often friendly and understanding. Especially your co-workers.-The culture is possibly the best in corporate history. I have never seen a company so dedicated to their employees as the Home Depot. Other companies should learn from them.-The ability to move around and even change locations is very easy.-The support they offer to students is amazing.

It is a very good company to work for. I would encourage people to start here so that we can flood the future working world with well-disciplined and hardworking employees.

Cons

Unfortunately, this is where the title of this review begins. In mid-February, I had a conversation about a black associate in the presence of another black associate. No one else just us two. I believed that the associate and I were on great terms and I had been open and honest with her in the past. I have been working with her for almost a year now. The conversation was about another black associate and how they refused to perform their work duties. The conversation ended with both of us agreeing that the employee had been making improvements to their work ethic and I should ease up on criticism. I agreed, and we went on with our jobs. A few days later I find out that the black associate that I had been speaking to, accused me of calling the other associate, that the conversation was about, the N-word. I denied ever saying such a word and even wrote a statement. After an investigation by corporate, I was terminated from employment due to the severity of the situation. According to the termination papers I received, I violated the Respect Policy. The situation became a He-Said/She-Said debate and since she is black and a female and I'm a white male, her word is more valid than mine. I will take this as a lesson learned and move on.

My experience is unique and is not a reflection on the all employees or all stores and their management teams. It is depressing that a company I had adored and loved was willing to toss me away to secure their title as "An Equal Opportunity Employer." I was treated unfairly multiple times and even skipped over for a promotion 4 times despite having greater experience and knowledge than my supervisors whom I had 5 total in my 2 years of being there. The 6-month record for all write ups prevents good employees from advancing and instead, promotions are given to people who "suck up" to management. If you really want to be promoted in the Home Depot, you need to shred yourself free of your pride and dignity. I never believed this to be true until I worked at the Baytown location. The wrong people have been promoted and the hard-working people who understand their co-workers better than management are often punished or ignored for promotion. I even had a bad experience at the Clear Lake Shores location where a manager yelled at me for asking for help. This doesn't reflect all stores but unfortunately, certain stores are very poorly managed or bad places to work at. You will often hear of good stores and people will try to transfer there. The Baytown location is by far the worst place to work. I am likely being bias, but I have a right to be. Managers will have "coachings" with you and advise you on how to improve your performance. This can be great except, they record the conversation without informing you and leave "notes" on the conversation they had with you and you are NOT permitted to read them. So, a manager can and will say anything they want to you and make "notes" stating something else and you cannot confirm them. You can be written up for minor things and write ups can prevent you from getting promoted or transferring. I was written up the second day after getting out of the hospital from recovering from an illness and the write up was for, "Voluntary Insubordination."

-You do not have the freedom to speak your mind, even in the Break Room. If anyone hears what you said, they can simply tell management and you can be written up. I was once written up for complaining about driving an hour to work for a 4-hour shift. My write up was for "Poor Integrity."-Most customers are very rude and disgusting. Needles and used condoms are found daily and so are dip cups. Baytown store.-Management is a mix bag depending on your store. Store managers are very disconnected with their employees despite being friendly and trustworthy, do not expect him/her to solve your problem.-Resolutions are often very slow.-There is favoritism sadly so make good friends with management and the higher ups to get promoted.-The company stands behind certain races and ethnicity more so than others. Figure out which one your store supports the most. And good luck with that uphill battle to promotion.-Good employees often get selected by other companies and leave. This means bad/lazy employees will be the most common people you work with.-Drama is a problem so keep your life mostly to yourself unless you really trust the co-worker.

Keep in mind, my experience was great up until certain managers left and others got promoted. I had a very unique experience, so this does not reflect the company as a whole, but it certainly is a bad stain on their ethics as a company. I do wish I could return there but maybe its best that I do not.

To sum it up, it's a great place to start but seek better employment elsewhere or be a student.

Advice to Management

Take an honest look at how you promote others and whom is there to make the company better or just advance themselves. Speak to your employees in private and ask them whom should be promoted and talk to the employee whom is being suggested. Relying on a system that requires employees to "apply" for a promotion only works for people who don't work and have time to spend on putting in applications. The people that are working hard, do not have time to put in for the promotion. Increase your pay per employee, especially raises based on Merit. It will encourage people to work harder. Understand and learn to recognize people who work hard and people who are befriending you just to promote themselves. Give more independence to the store instead of corporate. Each store should be able to handle their employees in their own way that will benefit both the employee and the company. Have an open-door policy on reading notes made in private by managers whom are monitoring associates. My advice to Corporate: If there is no definitive proof, then treat each associate's word as equal.

As a manager long hours, do more with less mentality caused us to be behind a lot. Leadership within my particular building didn't seem concerned with your needs compared to needs of the business. Associates knew a lot more that was going on or about to happen before the rest of the leadership team. If you are looking to attend college to move up in your career and work I would not recommend becoming a manager.